


remember me, sweet bravery

by taizi



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Drabble, Gen, KH3 spoilers, Kairi is a badass, anyway: au where kairi is as vicious as we know she is and it turns the tide, mentions of soriku bcus im only human, these kids dont give an inch, this is my version of the ending of kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 01:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18063578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taizi/pseuds/taizi
Summary: They’re back to back now, and she can feel Sora's heart beating through his jacket. He’s warm against her, keeping her steady. The world around them is close to ending and the darkness seems so much bigger than their light, but Kairi isn’t afraid.





	remember me, sweet bravery

Kairi tries to wipe the sweat out of her eyes and really only manages to get dirt in them instead. Her hair is hanging into her face and her pants are torn at the knees and she’s covered in soot and dust and the unsettling flaky remains of dissolved shadow heartless–

And she’s laughing, so hard her stomach hurts. 

“Axel, stop  _flipping,”_ she yells across the cavern to where he’s battling Saix, watching him dodge death by about three inches because he has to be extra. “No one cares!”

She ducks a grab from Xemnas and follows it up with a swift kick to a sensitive area that he just barely manages to avoid. Keyblade training didn’t prepare her for fighting dirty, but growing up on the island did. He shudders back through a shadow and gives her a narrow-eyed glare. She returns it with a grin as sharp as Riku at his worst.

“Kairi’s right,” she can hear Roxas saying from somewhere behind her, as dry as sun-warmed sand, “your ex-boyfriend isn’t going to be impressed by cartwheels.”

Xion lets out a bark of surprised laughter, and the flurry of battle picks up again. Kairi meets Xemnas’ next swing as easily as if she’s ten years old again, strifing on the beach with a wooden sword. A sixth sense– something like muscle memory, or a mirror neuron– has her falling back just in time for Sora to come through with a barrage of blurring attacks with what Kairi  _thinks_ is his pirate keyblade. He cycles through and formchanges his weapons at a rate that would dizzying for anyone else, and he does it like it’s second nature. 

Kairi would like to roll her eyes at Master Yen Sid again, for all his claims that Sora still has work to do, but she doesn’t think she could get away with it a third time.

“Way to show off, Sora,” she calls cheerfully.

He shoots her a bright grin and a thumbs up, blue eyes living up to his name; when  _he_ flips back to join her, she doesn’t have it in her heart to make fun. 

“Riku’s waiting,” she reminds him. Her pulse is racing, her bangs are sticky with sweat, the battle is far from over, and she’s smiling. “I bet a hundred munnies he’ll be so relieved to see you that he kisses you right in front of King Mickey.”

“You’re on, Kairi,” Sora laughs, lively and lovely and untouched by all the hardship he’s been through. “And I’ll bet youa  _thousand_  munnies that I get to him him first.”

They’re back to back now, and she can feel his heart beating through his jacket. He's warm against her, keeping her steady. The world around them is close to ending and the darkness seems so much bigger than their light, but Kairi isn’t afraid.

This is what she’s been training for. She’s worked so hard to stand here and make a difference.She digs in her heels, tightens her grip, and thinks of all of her dear friends. She thinks of her boys. She thinks of a future, not so far away, where she’ll never have to let them go.

Kairi seizes the idea– holds onto it, carves out a hole in her heart for it, keeps it right there behind her eyes so she doesn’t lose sight–

And she fights for it.

**Author's Note:**

> an anon on [tumblr](http://taizi.tumblr.com/post/183347568904/plz-make-the-ending-of-kh3-less-sad-plz-hlp) requested a better ending and i was happy to oblige !


End file.
